Apocalypse: The Second World War

Thanks to the efforts of a few, private collectors and archivists, these forgotten films have been rediscovered, restored and made available by National Geographic Channel in an extraordinary six-part series: Apocalypse: The Second World War. In addition to stunning footage, the series presents WWII in an innovative and provocative way, giving audiences an unprecedented sense of the reality of war not conveyed by black and white footage.

Made up entirely of original 35mm, 16mm and 8mm films, Apocalypse: The Second World War includes rare footage of the Polish officers’ massacre at Katyn, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk, the inhumane treatment of French soldiers taken prisoner by the Nazis and the sacrifice of Soviet soldiers at Stalingrad.

By bringing this incredible footage together, Apocalypse: The Second World War provides viewers with a ground-breaking portrait of WWII that depicts not only its complexity, but the perspectives of both its victims and its victors.

This documentary was made available on TDF thanks to a regular visitor Dai Evans. It's with excellent quality and as far as I can tell is the only one on the web so far.

EPISODES INCLUDE: The Aggression, The Crushing Defeat, Shock, The Turning Point, The Great Landing and The End of the Nightmare.

More great documentaries

World War 1 in ColorHistory - 360 min - ★7.07World War I in Color is a documentary designed to make the...

163 Comments / User Reviews

The narrator says the Canadians got very little resistance at Berniers sur Mer..." only a few shots fired "! What an outrageous statement...over 300 Canadians died on Juno Beach and surrounding area! An apology is certainly required.....

I saw the first episode today on the Smithsonian Channel. It was interesting until they said that Polish cavalry attacked German tanks. It is a Nazi propaganda myth, never happened, so there is no point in watching the rest of this misleading series.

Could you please , if possible, give me the name of the German soldier boy , that appears in the apocalypse doc.? This soldier was caught by the allies in Wezler , in March 1945, and to him I feel great pity, as well as for the others, who had to obey such a ruthless and mentally sick, dictator. The soldier boy is clearly seen in the footage film, and mostly shown at the end of this documentary. THANKS.

People should also watch the documentary "The Soviet Story" to see the other side of WWII. instead of depicting The Russians as the heroes that fought the last battles of WWII, this documentary shows the brutality and war crimes the Soviet officers committed before, during, and after the war, and whom were honored in Russia to be "honorable veterans" and were never charged for their crimes..

Same issue with me. I bought the DVDs from a couple of different places (HMV, National Geographic Channel), and the both have the America Narrator? The American Narrator on both version I had was Doug Rand. The British Narrator as seen on the National Geographic channel was Jonathan Booth. Jonathan Booth is also the person narrating in the clip on this site.

I am watching this documentary now on the Smithsonian Channel.I am 59yrs old,and have waited many years for the technology to bring these War Films to life.Our youth need to visualize how the war really was.This documentary is excellent.

I have the exact same disgust at those comments as well...and have posted my disgust.

deliaruhe
- 07/05/2012 at 02:48

I liked this series so much (especially Kenji Kawai's music) that I bought the DVD so I could see the part that's censored here, starting with Pearl Harbor and the entry of the Americans into the war.

What a disappointment! Instead of the elegant British narrator who knows how to pronounce the German words beautifully, the DVD features some American guy who mangles even the easiest of German terms. It's so distracting that I couldn't get past the first episode.

Drew re China/Japan go to wikipedia and dial up Japanese war crimes against China and scroll down to references to period preceding WW2. A lot of history of the 1920's and 30's if you open that segment up.

This was the battle which decided Germany's fate - see David Glantz docos.

No mention of scale of casualities. Complete under representation of Soviet contribution to war effort. 70 percent of German casualities occurred on Eastern Front.

Sarcastic_Drew
- 05/18/2012 at 05:28

Yeah, like I said, most countries docus/history lessons will have bias toward their own country's actions. I just got done watching "The War" Ken Burn's documentary and was very disappointed. It should have been named "The War, Team America F*ck Yea!" lmao.. so disappointed. I am still waiting for an accurate proportionally-appropriate documentary that focuses on all aspects of the War. I guess that is near impossible to make... if you can suggest a documentary(ies) that explain WII with little to no bias, I would be indebted to you.

I would also like to find a great docu explaining in depth the devastation China faced from the brutality of Japan.. there's so many docus explaining the rise of the Nazi's and I have yet to watch any explaining the history of Japan's notorious regime.

John Fraser
- 05/04/2012 at 04:26

You are right proudcanadian the Empire Air Training Scheme turned out thousands of aircrew. Additionally Canadians were sacrificed at Dieppe the forerunner of D Day. They also flew on the Dambusters raid and helped break the back of German resistance towards the end of the war

I just watched this series and was disappointed that once again the Canadian's war effort was minimized. When will the U.S. give Canadians the credit that is due them? We're skipped over even tho our Air Force is the one that trained everyone to fly in this war and that thousands volunteered long before the States were ever in this war. We gave more tax dollars per capita than the Americans and destroyed many uboats. It's the same with 9/11. It is rarely mentioned in the telling of this horrible story how many Canadians welcomed American strangers into their homes, let American planes land in our country, and sent our firefighters and emergency personnel to the city of New York. When will the good old U.S.A. give credit where it's due? This kind of arrogance does not make America a more endearing neighbor.

No one is stopping you or any other Canadian from making your own documentary about how you feel the war should be portrayed. Each country will make a documentary with some bias toward their own people... Russian documentaries will focus on the Eastern Front, BBC (England) documentaries will have a bit of bias toward the English agenda (Thankfully not much bias. BBC seems very keen to accurate proportionality).

Don't fault America for not "representing" Canada in these documentaries... There are plenty of other countries that were just as heroic in WWII, yet get little to no recognition. Canada lost 45,000 soldiers in WWII heroically, about 0.4% of their (your) total population. Let's take a look at China's war effort (which gets little attention from most modern documentaries out there). They lost up to 4,000,000 soldiers and up to 16,000,000 civilian casualties.. 3.86% of their population! Not many documentaries (besides of course Chinese) shed much light on this side of the war. The genocide in China gets NO spotlight at all, while the Jewish extermination gets center stage. I am not antisemitic but it sickens me that modern media focuses only on the death of the Jews. (A side note: its pretty sad that I even have to say "I'm not antisemitic" because the media has brainwashed us to be overly sympathetic to the Jews and the Jews only). There were millions of Russians, Chinese, and other groups that faced mass extermination. It's like we all forget about those people. The worst thing we can do as a worldly people is remember one people's tragedy and forget about the rest...

Before you put the thought in your head that I'm some crazy right-wing overly patriotic citizen of America, I would like to tell you that I am no such person. Well maybe I'm a taddd crazy, but that's for other reasons :) To be honest, I think American documentary creators shouldn't focus as much attention on our own war effort.. I think creators should hold great care in proportionality like the BBC. Too much bias can trick the reader/watcher into thinking a particular body of people helped much more (or much less) than what reality dished out. This is a very tedious task, I understand, but I think we owe it to the millions of people that died in this tragedy to portray the great War accurately.

I love you proudcanadian. You are my border brother. (I am almost Canadian myself, living a mere 20 minutes from your country lol). Do not upset yourself over such things. Documentary creators may have turned a blind eye to your ancestors' bravery, but I as well as all enlightened intellectuals of history have not forgotten. If the ignorant don't understand your country's cost, who cares! They are ignorant for a reason, **** em! :)

Whether you like it or not, USA is your family. I know that sounds odd, but I consider you family. The US and Canada has fought, died, cried, lived, loved, and helped each other through the past couple centuries. I know it's hard to distinguish the actions of the US Government & media from the actions of actual Americans but please understand, Americans are just like any other people in the world. We help our loved ones, and are indebted to those that help us.

To end this long rant, I just want to say that if you, my neighbor and brother, were bombed by a terrorist organization which caused the death of your family, friends, and internal neighbors, I would help you. I would help you with such passion that I would not need recognition for my efforts. I would not need the world to see that I helped you. My deed itself would be gratifying enough.

Respectfully,
Your New York neighbor :)

Gaël Christophe Mockelyn
- 05/05/2012 at 19:56

You don't need to blame the US: This documentary is French-made! In France we are not well acknowledged about the acts of Canadian in North America. That's why we only talk about Canada mainly during Normandy Battle.

Amit Chotaliya
- 04/26/2012 at 12:27

I couldn't watch videos after 14th, it says "This video contains content from NHK". who has blocked it on copyright guards. Is there anyplace else where I can find them?

Eli - the Americans could not go into WW2 early on as Roosevelt was blocked by the "America First Party" which only just lost the 1940 election to him. Then and only then could the U.S act. Yes they made money from GB and Russia - no doubt about that - it almost sent U.K. to the wall. Also some of the decisions made by congress to assist GB passed by one vote - it was a close run thing. As Churchill said "Americans will always do the right thing - after they have tried everything else".

Soviet armed forces took 14.7 million casualties and civilians up to 30 million deaths now confirmed. Germany and Romania etc allies 13 odd million.

You would have to agree that looking back over history and including WW2 that Human Beings behaviour leaves a lot to be desired.

I often wonder how and why leaders of great nations get so carried away with fear and hatred that they perpetrate such hideous crimes and think they can get away with it.

Hitler for example really believed that he could rid the world of the Jewish race - just incredible.

Also only briefly noted in much of the WW2 story is the fact that the Eastern Europeans lost approximately 15 million civilians during WW2 and Russia some 20 million. Colonel David Glantz has some interesting stats on deaths, captured and missing personnel on both sides (80% of German soldiers killed died on the Eastern Front for example) but not a lot on civilians.

@Joe Johnson I agree whole-heartedly. GOOD documentaries should view history strictly as it is, without bias toward either side. A great example of a GOOD documentary (in my opinion) is "The First World War." (found on this site) In this documentary, History is explained without TOO much bias toward either side with a great dedication to the lifestyle of BOTH sides.

The atrocities caused by the Nazis are deplorable but they are not ALL monsters. No one ever focuses on the millions of people killed by Stalin or other countries during that period of time. It's just passed off as unemotional fact.

what do you mean when you said there not all monsters??????
I dont know how old are you but even now you can visit the auswitchs and the dahau ......and ex cuse me if i watch someone to kill one other and after i dont speak or protest is beacause i suport this actions and unfortunatly for them all the german nation suport the HITLER and the NAZIS with blood and faith .....so dont try to trick the truth there is not reason.... you can say some lies to your self if you are german just to make your own shame litle less but not expect from us who show our fathers and grand fathers to die under the german boots ....my country after the war was full of orphans so shut up and show litle respect .....the NAZIS was a NIGHTMARE and somethink that humanity must make example for a world with out racist but with friendship and democracy

Sarcastic_Drew
- 03/21/2012 at 01:44

LOL Not all Germans sided with the Nazis. Where the hell were you educated? You express yourself with 100% emotion and 0% reasoning.

I'm guessing you are Russian based on your grammatically-inept reply. I do not have one ounce of German in my blood but what I do have is a brain and a thirst for truth. You say all people in the Nazi regime were not moral, they were all monsters. That's absurd.

I am not a Nazi sympathizer. I am not an admirer of Hitler. His regime was probably the worst in modern history. All I am saying is that other groups including the RUSSIANS, have committed unspeakable crimes against humanity, JUST like the Nazi's.

Stalin ordered the relocation and killing of hundreds of thousands of his OWN people, not to mention the torture/killing of Jews, POW's, and countless other ethnic groups. I guarantee you the numbers are even more than statistical data shows simply due to the fact that Stalin was a master of covering his war crimes. I don't have to educate you on the statistics of Russia's horrible track record before and during the WWII when it comes to inhumane treatment. Google it.

Regardless of your lack of reasoning skills, I would like to say you probably missed my point in my last comment. I was not SYMPATHIZING with Nazis. I was simply saying that there were so many other groups involved with unspeakable crimes, not JUST the Nazis, and people should not hate on EVERY individual Nazi member. There were plenty of good Germans during that era, just like there were plenty of good people in Russia (your family perhaps?), despite Russian government's cruel treatment of human beings.

I just want to say thank you for having this available to watch. NO ONE has a personal opinion more valid than someone elses its here to watch and make up our own minds. if you walk away with one more piece of knowledge or a feeling you learned something then the show as done what it set out to.
again, Thank You for Haveing it for ALL to see and respond.

El Alamein footage of attacking Allied troops is blithely passed off as German victory footage in North Africa (Episode 1), and the battle of El Alamein is compared with the Somme (Episode 5). According to this programme they were very similar apparently - LOL, both being 'bayonet charges'. Oh, and Rommel was a very committed and fervant Nazi, despite being forced to commit suicide for his role in the plot aainst Hitler.

Very annoying to have it all narrated in a 'fashionable' regional accent as well. Why not Bristonian or Brummy?

Gave up on it for the above. Candy floss history for .... actually I don't know who....

To you every German who fought in the last war is a "Nazi". That's because you're blatantly anti-German, most likely a hate monger as well.

Namron7
- 02/28/2012 at 17:00

Soros Soria. In English we have a thing called 'irony'. Look it up.

The comment about Rommel being depicted (by this programme) as an ardent Nazi fell in this category. i.e this is ironic in the context of the fact that Rommel was forced to commit suicide by the regime.

By the way, my mum is German. Her father - an Austrian in the Luftwaffe -was killed in combat during the war.

bruin360
- 02/29/2012 at 05:11

(To soros soria) im sure you know that nazi gremany was socialist and if you would read some history then you would know that socialism has failed in every attempt and if it has suceeded today its because it has some capitalism in its economy and as far as the mercedes benz well you apparently have never worked on one of those cars and it would be cheaper to just drive it off a bridge than to fix it. We would not be better off if Germany had won the war because Germany murdered over 6 million Jews!!! and if you had rather live in a nation who was run by a government who murdered 6 million of Gods people so you can have a **** economy and a car then you, my foolish enemy, are the idealogical one and you might as well be a murder yourself and anti-jewish for supporting such a cause.

Yotam Ben-Sa'adon
- 03/20/2012 at 18:25

no but looking at all of your comments somoene could interpate you as a Nazi

tpr185
- 10/26/2011 at 16:05

the russian winter aided so much in winning the war along with "the bomb".The free world didnt win the war so much as hittler lost it through radical idea's,ego and poor tactics......How's them Jap's though trying to take advantage of a bad situation.We're just fortunate we came up with "the bomb" first, otherwise we'd probably have suffered cruely at the hands of the japs.Just like my grandfather did and so many other poor bastards just like him.The japs have been a cruel race of ppl for many centuries.Esspecially to the chinese.chek it out.Anyhow, it never ceases to amaze me how a nation of buddhists can be such a blood thirsty bunch.Thats my point I guess.The way they treated their p.o.w's was a reflection of a nation.Imperialism.You'd think the germans and the japs could've just had their own war.The japs were the very thing hittler was trying to erase with his aryan nation concept and the japs thought they were the superior race, [and still do].They dont like their blood lines getting infected with anyones but their own...... carma?...peace

And, according to TPR185, all atrocities have the "Japs" (now there's a respectful, objective term) behind them. How bigoted can you get boys?

staszekgobi
- 09/25/2011 at 19:34

we have watched videos of the jews being exterminated for the past 66 years, don't you think that it is time to watch/act/debate the atrocities commited by jews and britts and american that are taking place today?
palestine or dasht-e-leile perhaps...

the fact is that humans are a warring species,all through history it happens over and over agian.Many a good man has been lost,the current conditions of the worlds financial situations will eventually lead to another ww.In my opinion the problem is all governments of the world,greed,corruption are rampent in the world today without reguard for the individual person.I believe all people throught the world could get along just fine without interference from any government.Until man evolves spirtually we will continue in the old ways,some say this 2012 thing is going to be an awakening of a new way of thinking, i hope so for all of mankind,one thing is for sure until we change our ways we are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over agian.WE have treated each other and the earth for that matter terribley and we will probly get the future we deserve for being so violent and so greedy,mother nature has a way of correcting things and like a dog shaking off fleas,the earth will create a backlash for the treatment of eachother,animals and earth itself.I served in the armed services and have a son and son in law serving right now.I have a direct intrest in what happens in the world,watching the mismanagement of the current conflict,i have little hopr the powers that be will change until its too late.There are a lot of good and just people in the world but i dont believe they are in positions to help the situation,the so called elite that continue to hold power over common peoples of the world dont care what happens to our enviorment,or us,like i said greed and corruption is the order of the day,personaly i kinda hope something does happen soon to put things back in proper order.I worry for our childrens future or lack there of,i am ashamed for what we are leaving in our childrens hands,I just dont believe real change for the better will occur without it being forced upon us all.

You would think all of us would of learned a valueable lesson from all the destruction and suffering of past wars, ww1 and 2 specially. We just don't know how to get along with our fellow brothers and neighbours.
I'm afraid that there is just no hope for the human spiecies. We need guidence from a higher power as in a God, or aliens. Other wise it's only a matter of time and this world we know,.... is doomed.

Great documentary, this is for the first time,I have seen the entire WWII happening. An eye opener, that War leads to nothing but DEATH and DESTRUCTION.. It was genocide on large scale, where Politicians were controlling the masses, whether it be French, Russians, Germans, Americans or Brits.

I am shocked to see persecution of Jews, there were tears in my eyes and could not help myself but Cry. JUST IMAGINE WHAT CATASTROPHE WOULD HAPPEN IF WE WOULD HAVE APOCALYPSE 3.. THINK ABOUT IT..

Maniche you left out one more thing war can lead to Freedom.Are you saying that the Allies should have let the Nazi's destroy and kill without trying to stop them? I think wars are brought about by good free nations not responding in time to trouble caused by bad nations, Germany ,Japan and the list goes on.World war 2 could have been prevented in the mid 30's if the free world had stood up to Japan Germany,and Italy. The war just didn't start out of the blue in 39, it was festering for years, and not one politician had the guts to try and stop the gangrene before in spread. 60,000,000 million people died because alot of people and politicians thought just like you.The next time you get an infection dont take any antibiotics and you will get my point.

izwiz
- 06/15/2011 at 16:16

This is the best war documentary I have ever seen in my entire life. I'm completely moved and devastated with the suffering of the innocent lives lost during the war. It is dedicated not only to the lives lost but an eye opener to the whole of humanity. May this serve as a lesson that in every war, everyone loses.

Check out The Second World War by John Keegan, the best 1 volume book on the war.

Joe Johnson
- 04/08/2011 at 04:28

This piece follows the same blueprint that most World War II documentaries do that have been released since the big war in Europe and Asia ended. I have been watching them for 35 years and they never change. It never changes. The ominous music whenever a German soldier is shown, the wild exaggerations of the announcer and the lack of context typical with these slick - at the time - hollywood type productions. The way it shows blood stained corpses in locations in certain areas in the war but could be anywhere. These types of films could be made by anyone and certain parts could even be staged. The battle scenes are a different story but if the film maker shows a building exploding in Berlin, we have no way of knowing where the actual building was. All buildings look the same. Are we willing to take a film narrator's word for it?

Film makers do it all the time to save money. After all, why drive 500
miles into Poland for some footage of people killed at a farmhouse
when you could very easily do it in Germany or near the frontlines
itself right near your hotel where I am sure there were an ample supply. Money was of course also in very, very short supply during the war and was extremely difficult to come by. Forget about getting fuel and food. I would strongly urge people to take some of these types of films with a grain of salt. This type of film does not educate, it only pounds one point of view home with a sledgehammer without being at all reflective or objective. My father fought in this war so I am not being in favour of Germany. I read alot about war and this is about the only one that seems to be covered in a different way. Most historians provide more actual strategic positioning of the forces from both sides to make the story more interesting. Since I have gotten a bit older and studied many books on this war my views have been more balanced and I am frankly quite surprised at myself for thinking this way, but I do.

And there have been new theories that suggest that if Churchill hadn't
escalated the situation by declaring war on Germany first in order to
protect Poland the war would never have reached the proportions that
it did. The British basically sent their young men into a killing field to protect Poland to prove to Hitler that the British were just as militaristic as the Germans. Strategically the British should never have done it. Most military strategists would agree. My point is proven by the facts of Dunkirk and the Germans stopping their advance and allowing the British to evacuate unexpectedly. Hitler seemed to let the British off but people are still debating this part of the war.

This is a fairly simplistic non-analytical piece that isn't very informative. Television was a brand new medium at the time and the Allied and Axis powers had unlimited budgets to influence their peoples. People were naive and didn't really understand how television could have been so manipulative. Also when you read novels about the war, they are full of footnotes so you can check to see the veracity of all of the points the author is trying to make.

People should really study this period in history very carefully,
especially the younger folks who were born in the past 20 years or so.
They will start to realize that the war wasn't as black and white as
these films make it. There is no way a short documentary can provide
us with definitive details of all that happened during this time. So I
suggest people start to look at many sources carefully before drawing
too many hasty conclusions concerning this war. Even most of the Germans convicted during the Nuremburg trials were eventually released due to appeals to the real courts. I think only 1 was finally executed but I could be wrong.

No timely news actually during the war came out of Europe into North
America. There were no satellites then so the film had to be physically moved from Europe to North America and it was heavily censored.
There was a news blackout by the British due to sensitive
security operations in the war theatre because they were
experimenting with the first developments of radar which people today
take for granted. The only footage we get is when the Americans finally
decided to join the war but only after they themselves were attacked near the end of it after most of the other nations had been mired in war for years.

So most of the war in North America was heavily censored and the
people here didn't know what was actually going on like we do today in
the 24 hour news cycle until after the war.

I hear you. There was an old French chap I knew who said that old talk of Petain was "disappeared". Petain allegedly desperately contacted churchill to see if there was a last ditch effort possible but was given the "fight to the last man" speeches so easily said by people hundreds of miles from the frontline. Britain was not ready and they were to hold out "just a little bit longer" without guarantees of how long. when he threatened the armistice he got no joy. He was shocked to hear CGD was in britain (How'd he manage that,) a running critic of his choices of leadership and tactics. When he signed the armistice the replacement "true French patriot CGD" broadcast on the BBC almost immediately. No Dunkirk Op was heralded but loads of "free French" pilots special forces etc had made it to UK. CDG himself got stabbed in the back coz the Brits had to cast the story as one of cowardly Vichy collaborators. With no detailed narrative this tag rubbed onto all the French and as France had been obliterated by the war CDG could not bite the hands that fed him and kept quiet but took every opportunity to put one over the Brits and Yanks establishing an entrenched Gaullist contempt for and distrust of the Anglo-Saxon kinship that held firmer than the entente cordiale. The marshall plan money was partly hush money for the devastated nations of Europe to accept the history that would underpin the the future anti commie World order. The globalisation we see now was already being planned in some detail in 1947 and it didn't involve colonies etc. "Freedom" was to be the buzzword for Political Moral High ground and the Nazi's had set in motion the perfect backdrop for unchecked wars for freedom. The devasteted Jewish population would get their homeland and the powers that be in that homeland were to be those who could stick to the script. They happened to turn out to be better at paying attention to detail than their masters and now the tail wags the dog. (Not a dig at Jews in case anyone is concerned.)

johncevans13
- 04/27/2011 at 08:50

You might need to re-eduate yourself on this period a bit more. During the Nuremberg trials, ten were executed (Hans Frank, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Rosenberg, Julius Dtreicher, Fritz Sauckel, Joachim Von Ribbentrop, Alfred Jodl and Wilhelm Frick) Herming Goering committed suicide, Walter Funk Life Imprisonment, released in 1957, died in 1960, Rudolf Hess Life Imprisonment, died in 1987 in Spandau Prison, Erich Raeder, Life Imprisonment, released in 1955, died in 1960. Albert Speer 20 years, released in 1966, Baldur von Schirach, 20 years, released in 1966. Baron Konstantin von Neurath 15 years, released in 1954, died in 1956. Karl Donitz, 10 years, released in 1956. Hans Fritzsche, Franz von Papen, Dr, Hjalmar Schacht were all acquitted.

canag0d
- 05/28/2011 at 01:28

No one is claiming that this documentary covers EVERYTHING in the war. Like you said, it would be virtually impossible for you to cover all the material involved in one documentary. That's why there is alot of specific documentaries (specific to weapons, or economics of the time, or of USSR or w/e) that just deal with one subject. When you put all the documentaries together, you can form a pretty good historical record of the time. Obviously not EVERYTHING will be covered... But what major topic would be??? By your logic, if you watch National Geographic Africa, you would say that the documentary is incomplete because there are 6 other continents.

Like EVERYTHING ELSE books offer a better medium for learning then video. That does not mean that video's have no value.

As for the "video being manipulated". Well that still happens today, and probably even more so then ever. While it may be true on some level, that some of the images you see are not exactly a match to what the narrator is saying, they are a good representation of the point and image he is trying to express. I doubt that the makers of this documentary are intentional trying to deceive the viewer.

Finally... This is a fairly in-depth summary of the war in complete, obviously produced by the allies(but I see little biasm). It is not focused on any one time or event in much detail. So you should not expect this to cover 100% of the material. However as far as these types of "summary" movies go... I found this one incredibly interesting. Especially when you factor in the most important thing this video offers... Color Footage. Yes, you totally overlooked that in your post, but yet that is the #1 competitive advantage this movie has over other similar ones.

9.3/10 - A must watch for anyone.

skypilotbp
- 06/18/2011 at 19:16

Joe, it sounds like you have concluded there is no good or evil in this world. I beileve this is a dangerous concept that has gradually overtaken our society. I had just turned 12 when Pearl Harbor was bombed and believe me, the American people did not struggle trying to determine who was right and who was on the side of evil. Sure, there is always propoganda in wars, but the Axis powers were experts at stirring up the people and feeding them lies. Have you ever seen Germany's "documentary" film in which they compared all Jews to vermin rats? How about the Japanese parading through the streets of Tokyo to celebrate their "victory" at Midway? You can look at any issue of Life magazine (it's online through Google) and see that Life's coverage of the war was usually quite accurate, especially after the dark days of 1942. Finally, to imply that Churchill could have prevented World War Ii is simply not true. After Hitler's aggression against Austria, Checkoslovakia and Poland, do you really think that he would cease and desist? In fact, most historians tell us that Hitler
had already been planning to attack the Soviet Union. It was simply a fulfillment of his vision for "living space" outlined in his book, Mein Kampf.

Just some thoughts from an "old codger" who actually lived through the events under discussion. Joe, there is still good and evil in this world. Always has been and always will be.

Blessings.

Haroldbauer
- 07/29/2011 at 07:08

Joe, I have some issues with this documentary also, but not in the same way you do.When you say the announcer makes "wild accusations" were you acknowledging the mistake the announcer made on the Soviet invasion of Poland, the dvd said it was 7 days after the Germans when in fact it was over 2 weeks.Maybe you are upset because the dvd claimed Iwo Jima was taken so B29's could take off to bomb Japan, it was taken in part to have a place for them to land on return if in trouble.Or the number off dead prob 60 million not 50.There are more but not enough to ruin the doc.And Joe read a few books, and quit looking to get educated by watching dvd's. Start with the Miracle at Dunkirk "Walter Lord" to see how many French and British were killed while Hitler was allowing them to evacuate. After reading some of these posts it is easy to see why the world is in trouble, we all have acces to every bit of knowledge known to man, yet people like Joe and Mike come to these insane conclusions. But remember "Hope is the mother of all men"

Haroldbauer
- 07/29/2011 at 07:18

Joe, I have some issues with this documentary also, but not in the same way you do.When you say the announcer makes "wild accusations" were you acknowledging the mistake the announcer made on the Soviet invasion of Poland, the dvd said it was 7 days after the Germans when in fact it was over 2 weeks.Maybe you are upset because the dvd claimed Iwo Jima was taken so B29's could take off to bomb Japan, it was taken in part to have a place for them to land on return if in trouble.There are more but not enough ruin the doc.And Joe read a few books, and quit looking to get educated by watching dvd's. Start with the Miracle at Dunkirk "Walter Lord" to see how many French and British were killed while Hitler was allowing them to evacuate. After reading some of these posts it is easy to see why the world is in trouble, we all have acces to every bit of knowledge known to man, yet people like Joe and Mike come to these insane conclusions.

structurestrain
- 09/01/2011 at 06:14

Joe, you're mental and in dire need of assistance, please seek help ASAP!

staszekgobi
- 09/25/2011 at 19:42

actually, joe is making a valid point and before you send me to a mental hospital take a look at today's media and the atrocities taking place around the world in a systematic way with total disregard towards other human beings.

Van Del Socorro
- 12/03/2011 at 17:37

In Nuremburg trial, i do not know the exact count of nazi leaders executed.. They were...

Martin Bormann
Successor to Hess as Nazi Party Secretary. Sentenced to death in absentia. Remains found in Berlin in 1972 and dated to 1945.

Hans Frank
Reich Law Leader 1933–1945 and Governor-General of the General Government in occupied Poland 1939–1945. Expressed repentance.

Hermann Goring
Reichsmarschall, Commander of the Luftwaffe 1935–1945, Chief of the 4-Year Plan 1936–1945, and original head of the Gestapo before turning it over to the SS in April 1934. Originally Hitler's designated successor and the second highest ranking Nazi official.[21] By 1942, with his power waning, Göring fell out of favor and was replaced in the Nazi hierarchy by Himmler. Committed suicide the night before his execution.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Highest surviving SS-leader. Chief of RSHA 1943–45, the Nazi organ made up of the intelligence service (SD), Secret State Police (Gestapo), Criminal Police (Kripo) and had overall command over the Einsatzgruppen.

Well, you can be sure more than one German leader was executed. The chief executioner was a Brit. By the way, this is the most intelligent comment on this blog so far. Most others fall right into ideological line. So much for freedom of thought.

Ben Buysse
- 04/07/2011 at 23:01

Well Ryenn, I just had to post here to say that not all Americans are arrogant and uninformed. Some of us actually paid attention in history class (not that American schools teach history especially well, but I actually read historical books for enjoyment and have done so long past my exit from school).

I was born and raised in America, and I actually feel embarrassed to say that at times particularly because of how my fellow countrymen frequently behave and how they think. Sigh... I need to move out of here but sadly the cost of universities are far cheaper to me here than anywhere else I would consider moving to.

I can add my own experience on this note. The most informed person I ever met on the subject of WWII, especially of the German involvement, was an American student of History who served in West Berlin in US Army intelligence. He was fluent in German and knew his history beyond the bigoted ranting and raving that is so common. But then, there aren't that many people who make a real effort to be objective or informed.

naughtyjonah
- 04/02/2011 at 22:38

Cory, you owe your whole history to the French? I'm not sure the French would want to be associated with the Genocide of a race and the enslavement of another. Had your president not sat on the fence for 3 years, Germany might not have been split in until 89 and America would not have endured the cold war. If, as you say, you had not entered at all, Hitler would have been destroyed by the Soviet Union so in fact we would have been speaking Russian. Not German. Danke.

Cory, that is the attitude of every American I've talked to. They think their country won the war by themselves. I'm Canadian, and my country did a lot during the second world war for being such a small population. Yes the U.S. helped a lot, but they joined almost three years after the war had started, while Britain and Canada were already in the fight. It's true that without the Americans, the war would have been lost. BUT it's also true that without Canada, the war would have been lost and without Britain, the war would have been lost. Without Canada testing the Germans at Dieppe, there would have been a lot more casualties on D-Day. On D-Day, Canadian forces advanced further inland than the Americans or the British. While the U.S. was fighting in the battle of the bulge, Canadians were busy liberating the Netherlands. As a Canadian, I'm offended when Americans think that they were the heroes who finally came to save the day. All allied countries who fought the Nazis saved the day, TOGETHER.

I think most folks are uninformed or misinformed by highly fictionalized films loosly based on true events. I am aware of Canada's part on all fronts in land sea and air and I thank you, but how many Canadians are as well informed as you,? I feel bad that Dieppe was so poorly planned, leading to the death of many of your countrymen. Remember too that all Commonwealth nations participated. Even Mexico and Brazil participated! Ive heard from a Brit that there are many adults in Britain that are even clueless about the "Battle of Britain"! In a sense no matter the contribution of Canada or any other nation the U.S. DID save the day in our factories as "The Arsenal of Democracy". You can't just disregard the vast numbers of ships, planes, tanks, guns, fuel, and supplies that poured from US factories to supply ALL our allies including the USSR. US citizens sacrificed and bought War Bonds to pay for all this Lend-Lease including supplies that were sunk by U-boats and never even made it to our Allies! Give credit where credit is due! We fought together - no need to be offended.

Horus Thelemite
- 09/12/2011 at 00:01

Ever heard of Henry Ford? He is not the only American or American business that was selling products or giving money to help fund the Nazi party.

The Americans joined the European war for cash and fought the Japanese because of Pearl Harbor. America would not have helped the Allies if we did not give Gold. Look in the privately own Fort Knox and you will find all the Gold the real Allies had in their national banks.

I cannot argue that the USA helped shorten the war by a few months, but in real terms Russia is owned much more by the European union than the USA. Russia gave more blood and more resistance than any other force.

So thanks America for supporting the Nazis for the first 2-3 years, and the 10 years before the war started. Get of that rocking horse, for it is really rocking at the moment. AMerica has only done anything for it's own satisfaction if that was not the case then they would have come to help much earlier and would not be so involved with fighting in oil rich countries now.

I like American people, they are strong, self assured, friendly, and welcoming. But the political system and the propaganda forced down American's necks is to the point of viral double speak.

So I am sorry if this sounded like a USA bash as it is not, but it is a big dig at the powers that be in America and how the USA's political landscape is dominated by money, money, money.

I also send my wishes to America on this a sad day for the world, not the people who died but the millions that have died and will continue to die because of short sighted politicians with even less diplomatic vision. May all those who have lost someone sleep easy tonight my thoughts are with you, those that caused the loss, may they have torturous nightmares with endless sleepless nights.

Eli Belousov
- 03/25/2012 at 18:43

It's propaganda that states "Americans sacrificed so much in world war 2" because with records you can see that in the first half of it, Americans were just profiteering by selling products to both sides of the war. The only thing they are mad about is that they couldn't make more profit because Japan forced them into the war. The Americans lost 416k men,which is undeniably alot but that's only 0.32% of their total pop and they got almost no civilian casualties or infrastructure damage. The soviet union lost around 23000k total deaths. That's almost 15% of their entire population. This is without counting the deaths caused by world war 2 which occurred afterwards due to loss of infrastructure and food. The Soviet Union Lost so much and it sucks that people say that U.S.A did the same.

Keep in mind btw. I'm not trying to insult the United States. They still helped the Allies win later on and should still be thanked

Haroldbauer
- 07/29/2011 at 08:10

Ryenn your first statement tells me that you need to meet more people.Anyone who has done any reading knows the war was won by the Allies.The bravery and accomplishment of the Candian soldier is of legend.I am responding to you not them. Your statement that you are offended because we Americans think we are heroes sounds a little French to me. In case you have forgotten the US did not have to pul 1939 by my count thatl your plums out of the fire in ww1 or ww2. Another nugget for you Ryenn,Canada declared war on Sept 10th is 27 months before Hitler declared war on the US, not 3 yrs.It wasn't untill April or May of 42 that Canada instituted Full Conscription, thats almost 3 yrs from when the war started.I cant believe I have wasted my time responing about this, the enemys were the Nazi's and the Soviets, this dvd got the point accross that it was both who started the war in Poland, and then the Soviets had the gaull to complain about us not opening a second front soon enough to save their butts. Do some more reading and thinking then A simple thanks will suffice.

Cory Bush
- 02/28/2011 at 20:58

Tom without us americans you would be speaking german. There is no way your country would have been able to defeat the nazi's by yourselves. The nazi's would have taken over your country. It is a proven fact that the tide of war did not change until the americans went into battle on your side. As for your rant about americans. We owe our whole history to the french and we returned the favor during WW2. We have french monuments in america. We love the french people, we're allies till the end. Viva la france and god bless america!

You owe your whole history to the French? I'm not sure the French would want to be associated with the Genocide of a race and the enslavement of another. Had your president not sat on the fence for 3 years, Germany might not have been split in until 89 and America would not have endured the cold war. If, as you say, you had not entered at all, Hitler would have been destroyed by the Soviet Union so in fact we would have been speaking Russian. Not German. Danke.

Andy Stock
- 04/07/2011 at 11:57

Cory you have the same last name as a president who thought the world was only 10,000 years old! Do you think America would have survived another 10 years with out allies in Europe? Hitler was a few years a way from dropping a nuke on New York! Imagine Japan, Germany and Italy versus the United States. At the start of WWII America wasn't even in the top 20 military powers in the world. Europe's brave defiance of fascism is actually what gave America the opportunity to establish itself in future world politics.

grainofsalt146
- 04/14/2011 at 03:51

False- Hitlers atomic reserch was years behind the US. No threat of an A-bomb to New York.

Mike
- 05/10/2011 at 12:17

Ah Andy, The National Socialist Movement was the largest multi-national force in European history, and for good reason. The movement was all about freeing countries from jewish bankers, and preventing COMMUNISM from taking a foothold in Europe. The allies, with all jewish leaders, sent men to go make sure at least half of Europe was communist. Now it is slowly turning totally communist with the EU, which, like the UN is a jewish org and totally committed to enslaving Europe.
National socialism will save all these countries from the iron fist, but are the people brave enough to look and see what its all about?!

If you don't know about economics and how these jewish bankers print money from thin air and loan it to governments (which they really control), then go learn about it, and learn what the solutions are. If you like paying the tax you do, and watching the world fall apart, then go back to sleep.

James del Valle
- 06/12/2011 at 00:58

@grainofsalt146 I think you will find that Germany actually began the research for the atomic bomb but they sidelined it which was another one of Hitlers mistakes which led to Germanys defeat, Germany should have won, I think they were too soft on the UK had the Germans known what the British and Americans would do to the German civilians through bombing raids, i.e. they were brutally murdered then I am sure they would have made a deal with Russia to wipe the UK off the map forever. The cowardice of the British and Americans is a disgrace.

Mike
- 05/10/2011 at 12:11

So instead, you supported jewish communists from Russia, and Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt and Eisenhower (all jewish) and you have a jewish private bank called the reserve bank of america that lends you money they create out of thin air, and then charges you interest on it. Yeah Cory, good move hey! Maybe National Socialism where the German Government owned and printed its own money backed by the labour of the people might have been better?! NO DEBT, NO INFLATION and no interest payments to greedy jewish bankers that do nothing but enter digits into a computer? Think about that next time you pay your taxes man. Think about that when you look around and see America falling apart on all levels.
You need to research more.

Im proud of the men who fought on ALL SIDES, but the truth is out now, so why keep up the charade? The allies were lied to by the kjewish run media, and the jewish leaders on all sides, and they all conspired to destroy Germany, who wanted NOTHING to do with the parasitic reserve bank system we have today that is swallowing up the world.

I very much respect the many older soldiers I have met in my life that ADMITTED they were lied to. Korean, Vietnam, World war 2 vets that saw WHY they were sent, and understand now. If it were me, I would put a hole in the head of anyone that had forced me to go.

Joe Johnson was on the right track. ALL these documentary films are the same because they go through a jewish filter. Americans have never been allowed to see any truth. Even to this day the lies the government and the media spin are outrageous!

gary_is_the_best
- 06/02/2011 at 08:24

you need to adjust your tinfoil hat mike.

Andrew Allen
- 07/08/2011 at 05:29

i hate to break this to you and I am a full proud patriot I love my country, and it is the best country in the world, but Russia was already in Kursk before we even evaded, the tide of the war turned in stalingrad when 6th army was demolished, wow I agree about some of my arrogant countrymen. America did not when the war, we helped but Russia would of finished Germany alone America just made it faster that is it. I love my country and proud of all our soldiers heroes always. Canada yes you were in the war 1st, but you lost like 80k men and america lost over 400k men, so Im sorry but i do measure in blood and canada lost the least amount of men of all countries in ww2 so get off your high horse yourself. Also the lend lease deal saved britain and russia in a lot of ways.

Guest
- 09/12/2011 at 00:58

Typical american boaster. The "Big" job was done by the russians.
The US army went up to the point of holding back its troups!
Ok! On the demand of the russian generals, but anyhow...

Second, how much german citizens there was at that time?
And what was the worldwide population at that time?
The germans had the finest technology at that time?
Maybe but listen back as the russians were advancing the eastern front.

In the end, it sums up to the very same thing as today, the american which include young turks like you, went through some 3 generations of abusing other nations and war crimes.
The list is quite extensive. Just think of the "School of the Assassins".
Hoping that you have at least a vague idea who & which nation gave safe-heaven to NAZI war criminals?
Do you only know who founded the worldwide CIA criminals?

As "Horus Thelemite" came close to tell y'a 'coze you fully deserve it, one person aside Ford deserve to be pointed at, more than other and it is Bush Sr. deceased, grand father of Buch Jr.
In short, you proved yourself to be very poorly educated.

For the rest, get updated...

Pierre.

Old Git Tom
- 02/24/2011 at 17:28

Ben,
agreed, yes, about time we had the French view of WWII. A lot of stupid nonsense is still talked by foolish people, about French cowardice, & unwilingness to fight. They forget that it took the united aristo Europe to defeat Napoleon's armies. I look on Trafalgar & Waterloo as tragedies. If Napoleon had won, we Brits would have enjoyed decent bread & coffee, & been better dressed.

Oh, & if any Americans give you grief, please remind them (politely)that it was French soldiers who saved their Revolution. When Napoleon later asked for assistance, George Washington declined! OGT

Had the Germans won, you would have economies in much better shape, be driving Mercedes Benz, and not be sinking into the Third World....

Yotam Ben-Sa'adon
- 03/20/2012 at 18:22

had the german won there would be no israel or gypsies or poland or many of the things we know today so shut the f*ck up . I can't believe you are saying the world would be in a better condition if the Axis had won the war.

Jake
- 02/24/2011 at 12:58

@Ben... no matter you're English Ben you've well made your point.

And for the rest... no matter whom they were, Chinese, French, English, Germans and Russians, many died, for a sick ideology from one man who was blurred with power and anger over a difficult childhood. People have lost families, daddies and mommies, innocent children were killed for the stupidity of humans. And you come discussing about lies and incorrectness of the document (which is well done by the way... thanks to Vladko for the upload). For heaven sake take your head off the sand... this is a war that had no reason to be in a modern society. And I condemned all wars, mostly those endorsed by psychotic beings that should have taken off the power from the very beginning. My great uncles and grand dad fought along side the Canadians in WWII and before they died the thing they said was that we were a menace to human race... speaking of the human beings themselves of course. Hopefully I won't be around to see the next third world war... because if WWII was bloody and brutal, the next one will be certainly the end of human race... so who'd win? The plants and the trees that will be the only survivors. Hopefully after we're done destroying our civilization, the next to come after us will find other ways then to start a war over a bag of Doritos.

Hi everyone,
I'm french and would like to answer to whose complaining about a french based documentary. What did you expect? This documentary wasn't originally made for other countries but for french people. It was published by France2, a public channel wich helped to finance it. It is normal that the documentary spend more time on what happened in france, this was like a lesson about our history. And I don't think that it's propaganda. Sure they talk about resistance (mostly built by foreigner people and not french, as specified in the documentary), but they also talk about the collaboration of the provisory government to the nazies. We know that we are not a heroes population. People fighting for or against the nazies were a small minority, the most part of the population was fighting to have something on the table for dinner.
Sorry for my approximate english.
Cheers.

Well said. The struggle of the common man who's country was at war and yet somehow he wasn't in the thick of it. life had to go on. it was not a choice.

Old Git Tom
- 01/23/2011 at 16:42

Nikolas,
I am much more interested in the truths of history than not ruffling feathers. As said, Brit governments played a slippery game, first promoting German militarism to offset French power, then refusing any defense pact with Russia until it was almost too late.

Chamberlain's two closest aides were Wilson & Ball. Both were pro-Nazi. Bar 6-odd MPs, the bulk of the Parliamentary Tory Party was behind Chamberlain & against Churchill. Hence the later promotion of Churchill by Tories as 'their' patriotic icon - as if the they had not fought & sidelined him for years!

Churchill himself made a big mistake in 1938. He advised against any help to the Spanish Republican government in its defense against fascism. It could have been stopped there. Rather, Baldwin's gov in the UK threatened Blum in France with dire consequences if he sent aid to Spain. What a snake-pit! OGT

To Critics:
What would you have done better!!It is very easy to critise after an event & in a different era.
France,endorsed the policies of Versailles esp. Reparation Payments (just been paid off last year!!) more strictly than UK & Chamberlain was popular wth his policy of "appeasement"& would have joined "League of Nations" with France however became disenchanted with French Diplomacy & by Chamberlains policies put Nations Finance in good position to meet early demands of war.
I was born in England & find some remarks very offensive.Britain was crippled by the War & we had ration books much longer than in Australia & thats why I was registered very quickly ( Nov.1945) to obtain more ration points!!It appears to me that the message you convey has the opposite effect of inciting trouble!!
Just be glad you live in a democratic country that has free speech & many people say that our system of law has the British Empire to thank.
Remember,if you want to change things we have a Politcal System, which in Australia has a miraid of parties both in House of Represenatives & the Senate.

To Documentary Makers,
Wonderful Documentary on WW2:-clear & very realistic especially of lives of all involved.
I have not watched all, but will as a friend told me about Series on SBS (Australia).
War is a difficult subject & you cannot please everybody however this Doco.gets into the heart of the matter & gives a very balanced view.
Thank you Vlatko, for making it avaiable!!

Nikolas,
I think Omar has the right sentiments. War is an insanity. As for Chamberlain, he was a snake, I'm afraid. He may have brought in measures that appear 'socialistic'today, but they were merely common sense necessities for the time. That they appear radical now is a measure of how far our political culture has sunk.

Chamberlain followed the trad Brit foreign policy of trying to set one Euro power against another. He & his City chums nurtured Hitler & German militarism in order to offset French power after WWI. Wall Street did much the same, but for other reasons. The results were utter disaster - WWII.

Chamberlain & Halifax (FO) wanted a peace treaty with Hitler. Churchill correctly perceived - that would be a barely disguised surrender. But Churchill did not so much lead, he was pushed by the British people. If Chamberlain had won, there would have been a revolutionary uprising. The Brit ruling class was smart enuf to see that, so wheeled on Churchill, the least worst option. OGT

To all:
I am Australian & if USA had not fought the "Battle of Coral Sea"& helped us in NG;we might have been part of Japananese Empire.We needed forces where the Japanese were & not up near Japan.
Neville Chamberlain advised The King of Winston's appoinment as Prime Minister in May 1940,(not a normal custom by a outgoing PM but to show unity)after a meeting with Halifax,Churchill & D Margession (Chief Whip).
For all his critics ,Neville Chamberlain bought in many social policies in his time in Govt.eg.Taxing business profits in 1937"The National Defence Contribution",a move which delighted the Socialists.
I am writing to bring a balance to the discussion & show that events are not as simple & require careful consideration.

IMHO, the catastrophic turn for the worse was the Cold War, after WWII. Our rulers decided that a world of peace & plenty for all was too good for us, so the propaganda machine that convinced so many that Russia was about to invade western Europe. It was all nonsense. Russia could not even feed its own people. It was only able to survive WWII becoz of US supplies. But the Cold War was very profitable for the industrial-military lobby.

After the fall of communism, our rulers supplied us with another bunch of people to hate - the Moslems. Bullshine, I reckon! The swine that rule the world generate one crisis after another to frighten the sheeple & keep us docile. OGT

@OGT they weren't perfect but look at today's situation, many moslems are suffering at the hand of the Jews so I can have no sympathy for them but racism was wrong but I think there is a lot of propaganda involved in these issues, many Germans didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes but maybe some people need to pay the price to create a better world rather than people continually paying that price like they do today, of course you are right and must be commended for your gallantry but if the world descends into a war of survival through a lack of resources such as food and fresh water then surely logic would tell you the turning point was world war 2, world freedom has contributed towards the world headed towards an uncontrolled descent into catastrophe. I hope we don't destroy everything.

WWII was one of the few occasions in history when the good guys actually did get together to stamp out the b******s. Nazism offered nothing. It could not unite anything effectively, since it was an intolerant & exclusionist ideology. What a bunch of hopeless, deranged schmucks!

When the Nazis marched into the Ukraine, they were greeted as liberators by the locals who detested Stalin - with good reason. What did Adolf & co. do? They began murdering Ukrainians, becoz they were Slavs, so inferior 'Untermenschen'!!

Many Germans were revolted by the treatement of German 'Jews'. These poor devils were persecuted & exterminated by the tens of thousands. The program only ground to a halt when the Nazi fanatics ran out of manpower. Can we get our heads round that madness? Germans could not kill enuf Germans becoz they were getting short of Germans. Do me a favor, please!? OGT

@OGT afraid not sir, the main question is what did defeating Hitler achieve and the answer is, look at today and you have your answer, the opportunity was there for peace deals but Britian would not hear of it so we are left wonder what might have been if the world united under one banner then global warming, over population would be easier to control, instead we cant control anything and half the world has descended into choas, e.g. countries like nigeria and loads of south american countries and hell even the united states is a war zone between the races through bad management, races can live together but not under an every man for themselves regime. So it was a waste of good lifes to fight Hitler it achieved nothing.

Absolutely wonderful footage. Just a shame the Scottish voiceover was done by a man who obviously had no idea how to pronounce a single foreign name.
The River Elbe is 'elb', Marshal Zhukov "Zukov', Goebbels 'Gerbels" (Maybe he confused him with the Gorbals). The list of almost comic errors is endless

Is there a DVD to buy? Amazon only includes the soundtrack, local private TV channel (in Greece) is showing an episode per week. Footage is too good to wait for next week's episode. Do you know of a release date of a DVD of Apocalypse WWII?

Honestly, when I fell tired and down, and no one talk to... I just watch this documentary, and all of a sudden... Im OK. Because, this film makes me realize how important life... And be thankful enough to these years that HE had spared us...

cont...this is a favorite argument of mine with those that refuse to believe that banking is controlled by the jews,that the jews don't have any extraordinary political power.I say one jewish family has both.The dullards I waste my time on don't even think this family is jewish but the balfour agreement is one piece of proof that nails down both of these points.The rothchilds or red shield with the six pointed star,are the "owners"or at minimum the main instigators of israel and all the horrible pain,cost and anguish that has come with it.

i watched the first 7 min and stopped i'm soooooo sick of the lies and propaganda.The narrator goes on and on about how hitler didnt know what to do with the jews,Madagascar was mentioned,people must know by now that a deal was made between the zionists the germans and roosevelt,I don't understand why people now know that the war on Iraq has nothing to do with wmds or al queada,these being the historical truth.Yet they slop up the so called historical truth of ww2 like its the gospel,wake up people you're being LIED to.If you bother to CHECK the past truth you'll see at the same time hitler came to power rooesvelt came to power,the usa made it extremely difficult for any jew to come to the states.This is in 33-34 showing clearly the duplicity between the powers,they all knew war was coming they all KNEW the war was about oil,israel and the middle east.Just like i know you guys are going to first call me rascist then ignorant and when you can't prove either of those the ad hominim attacks will start.Heres a start for those with a brain, google "the balfour agreement" check out who its addressed to.

I only recently learned from YouTube of all places that NY Jews organized boycotts of German goods imported into the USA before the war began. Apparently, this and the pressure put on Germany via international banks fed into the antisemitism in Germany and Austria.

Karen Graubard
- 03/02/2012 at 02:25

mate your argument is so invalid you should be ashamed you even posted that, first how the hell can you talk about driving a mercedes benz when people were being killed, innocent people, people just like you. how would you feel if a random person goes to your house and kills your family in front of your eyes, and then they kill you, just because they think you were not perfect, as hitler stated perfect people were the germans. mindless comment mate, its because of people like you that war exists, people with nothing else in mind but money and power. you are pathetic.

Real
- 06/02/2010 at 09:27

Listen Folks, Buy the DVD and stop bitching because you can't get something for free--this is an historically relevant and very fresh perspective. And for all you French bashers, get over it; France was in the middle of this mess and their politics did play a role in it and their lives were affected by it. Show some respect for a people who suffered greatly at the hands of murderous theives while the American government sat by and did nothing for a year and a half. Seriously, if the documentary were Italian, it would be interesting to see how their perspective as well (I suppose you would defend their joining the Nazis?).

Vlatko,
yes, thanks, I did, & the clips from the French side were interesting - ignored by most Anglo-US treatments. I've perhaps seen too many of these, so I'm a nit-picker.
The Battle of Britain section hilited the Spitfire fighter, but the bulk of the RAF's work was done by the less glamorous Hurricane. The air combat bits showed a FW 190 being shot down - they all seem to fall for that clip - but the 190 did not appear until after the BoB.
More substantially, the Russo-German war section did not mensh the fatal failure of the Wehrmacht to capture the Caucasus oilfields - but maybe that was in the missing sections?
Otherwise, a praiseworthy treatment & intro for those unfamiliar with WWII. OGT

Evil Twin,
hear, hear! I've seen & read much about the US Pacific War. I always wondered why the US pushed so hard, regardless (almost) of terrible losses in assaulting islands. Clue? Recently read of a wartime secret - Japan was developing an atomic weapon. True? Yes or no, none of the sources I met ever asked why the US Navy didn't just blockade Japan's seaborne supplies until its war machine ground to an eventual halt.

well, actually, they did blockade Japan. Japan was just about on it's knees when the atomic bomb was dropped. But then, as now, you need troops on the ground to take possesion of land (and deny it to the enemy). The dropping of the bomb saved countless thousands of american lives that would have been lost if Japan had to be invaded the hard way. But occupied it had to be, otherwise there is no victory. Looking at it from your way, why didn't the Allies simply starve Germany into submission (they were pretty close to starvation by 1945, and had virtually no industry or oil left to wage war).

Fredrik Fernqvist
- 01/27/2013 at 00:08

Except tha the choice was to kill atleast 50 000 (give or take) CIVILIAN lives. However it would've been another ballgame if the US troops invaded the continent Soldier VS Soldier.

Cyril De Riviere
- 02/16/2013 at 23:48

it's like asking a boxer to jab for hours instead of taking one big uppercut to knock his opponent out. The notion of not dropping the bomb, strategically makes absolutely no sense. It did have an incredibly heavy human cost on the civilian population ( which by the way was very much ready to die in order to kill the invading troops ). However the call made by the emperor for the population to commit mass suicide, now that was a completely uncalled for, Hitleresque move. Saying that Japanese soldiers would've put up more of a fight soldier on soldier is a correct yet just as stupidly inhumane statement.

evil twin
- 03/29/2010 at 15:16

ok so it has booms and bangs and whams and everything, oh and the french, almost forgot about the french (weird, huh?)

Where's the money? the preparation? the wall street component, where is it?

Nice pics and footage but utter crap otherwise. too much emphasis on the french and too little on the real motives of the ww2.

NatGeo or whoever made this doc epic failed. People aren't stupid (well, most of them are but not all), some people ask questions...

BBC,
better anti-war hippie protesters than those with an insatiable taste for licked jackboot polish & warfare.
Churchill did not 'lead' the British people, they forced him into office. If Chamberlain & Halifx had not resigned, there would have been a revolution against the traitors who wanted a sell-out to Hitler.
Churchill was one of only about six (6)Tory MPs who stood out against Chamberlain. The rest of the Tory sheep followed their treacherous leader, until the wind changed, that is. That's why Brit Tories today bang the Churchill drum so much. True-blue patriots my fanny.

This Doc was great, and the footage was exceptional. Better then any WWII footage from the USA. Quality was exceptional. All the modern day hippies, who want peace, and blame religion for wars. Watch this doc, it will open your mind. They even had protesters back then, FAIL! There is no stopping human beings united in one common goal. Uniting people, toward that goal is the problem. Hitler was naturally gifted for it. Thank God for Churchill,Stalin (he served a purpose), and Roosevelt. "Never forget those who laid so costly a sacrifice, on the altar of freedom" (Lincoln).

@Keir.
You're right.
This FRANCE 2 (!!!!!!!) documentary is heavily french biased.
Many critical interesting battles elsewhere that have no French link are simply disregarded, french political issues are overly expanded, Vichy french organisational figures (more than only Petain!) do not get the just criticism they deserve (Including policeman Mitterand!), and the fighting activities of the free french are overly exaggerated.
Nice images to see, but be critical when you watch the documentary.

Not in my estimation. I've seen an awful lot of these war docus, & 99.9% of them whitewash out the financial/political dimension.

Modern mechanized wars, like WWI & II, take enormous amounts of capital & years of production & preparation. They don't sorta, kinda, just happen. Rarely do the docs talk about the money, & how the bankers usually emerge from the carnage with enhanced returns.

Sure, I'm crying for the moon, but it's time someone made a Spanish Civil War docu that described the diplomatic chess & spookery by the UK & USA to destroy a social-democrat government.

Ah well, maybe I should not be surprised that even in war movies, the first casualty is the truth! OGT

More bang, bang, boom, boom cine footage of WWII. Meantime, the voice-over is mainstream political s****. The omissions could fill a library, the real story of what happened & why is missing. Of course the French armed forces were badly armed. The Wall Street & City of London bank-backers of Hitler's nazism had arranged it that way. Antony Sutton layed out the facts long ago, chapter & verse. Why are we still getting these fairy stories? Boys of all ages seem to like footage of men firing guns. Why don't they like the full truth? Balls or brains not big enuf?

Well, since like 90 percent of the WWII documentaries usually have an American or British view, it's nice to see something new. Altough I agree that this documentary make complicated matters very simple for time to time. I watch it for the beatutiful color footage, some of which I had not seen before.

Keir, the "free french forces" sounds familiar? Please take of your nose of american school books or saving private ryan for a second. This isn't the right place to discuss about History but your kind of chauvinistic-redneck-like comment is good for the trash.

By the fourth episode, the overwhelming French focus was too much. The series was made by the French, and so spends considerable time on the French over others. By 1940 they surrendered after 6 weeks into the Blitzkrieg and left the fighting to others, before jumping on the Anglo-American liberation bandwagon. Here it's not the French collaborating, but the Vichy French (as if there was any other real kind). Not the French firing on us in Morocco, but the Vichy French. Meanwhile the French flag is superimposed over the British and US flags to show that they were part of a liberation force against, ummm, countries like France. At least National Geographic could have edited this out and made it more historically relevant to its viewers.

Dai - not being too computer literate, I'm not sure what you mean by uploading it - would love to try - could you tell me where to go to do that and how to do that? Youtube? I did look on youtube but did not find the complete 6 hours series (however, not being very familiar with youtube I may have missed it!) Appreciate any advice/suggestions - what i saw of this program was fantastic and i'd love to see the other 3 1/2 parts of it. thanks!

I also wonder if it shouldn't be taken off this site, since it doesn't actually exist here anymore. Again, very new at watching anything on my computer, so perhaps I am off line with my comments.

Lisa: It was taken of youtube or the original host site, not by Vlatko. Unless Vlatko can find it again downloaded already somewhere, it's probably gone for good. That happened to my "Top 10 Most Extreme" series that I was enjoying so much. Bummer. This sounds like a good series.